Monday, September 28, 2009

Hey guys, just want to send out congratulations to our friends at Explore Music (which includes Explore Music, Ongoing History of New Music and Legends of Classic Rock).

The fine folks over there have set up a deal with a company called FMQB that will help syndicate all of three shows in the United States.

If you've never checked out any of these programs...what the hell is wrong with you?

I first encountered The Ongoing History of New Rock about the first or second year I was in high school.

It was a revelation.

I am a lover of all things that are trivia and knowledge in regards to music. If you talk to me for more then five minutes I usually spew out something about music or comics...or occasionally both.

Ongoing History introduced me to the history of some of my favorite bands and also introduced me to some groups I had never heard of. I honestly don't know how aware of bands like The Smiths or The Stone Roses I would have been if not for this show. I also got to hear information on my favorite bands. Alan's story about meeting Al Jourgeson from Ministry is a particular favorite of mine. Go and download our interview if you haven't already. It was also great to hear radio in a format that wasn't all music and wasn't all talk.

By the way, for those who might question Alan's sincerity, I've seen his office. He had a few stacks of cds, a bunch of vinyl (included a Stone Roses lp that I envied) amongst other small but awesome bits of personal rock mementos in his office. The dude obviously loves his job and loves music.

I think also it's a bit of a testament to Ongoing History that my Dad even found it interesting despite the fact the music was not to his tastes.

And then entered Jeff Woods' show Legends of Classic Rock. Similar format but geared specifically for my Dad's generation and fans of classic rock. Both my Dad and my grade 8 teacher thought it was cool when I appeared on the show with Jeff (who turned out to be a really cool cat).

Both Adam and I are fans of Explore Music on just general principle. Music when it is good, can be one of the greatest things in the universe. The unfortunate thing with the current state of the flux of music industry is it seems we only get the popular vote shoveled at us. Sure you can go through the internet looking for new and good but the one side effect of having all this access to new music is that sometimes it's hard to filter through. Explore Music (both radio and tv versions) gives us a few starting points.

As friends of our show, Alan, Jeff, Nathalia and the rest of the crew there have been extremely kind and patient with these two knuckleheads allowing for us in various capacities appearing on their show, interviewing Alan, and posting up pieces on their website. Nathalia (Explore Music's content coordinator, writer, researcher) especially has to deal with a barrage of half assed ideas from yours truly on a regular basis. And she has done so with a professional attitude when lesser people would have told me to go jump of a high pier into a pit of spikes by now.

If you have yet to check out any iteration of any of these shows go to

www.exploremusic.com and check out the show listings for when they are on in your area. As well the video and audio archives do have Explore Music shows in them.

And for our American friends, more info is on the way but here's the official press release.